You think I'm kidding, don't you? I need to break out the WD-40 as I am hearing a squeak inside the grinder motor. Here is my work of art that I call the "Hope Farm Experimental Conch 2014-X1", or "HF Experimental Conch 2014-X1", for short. Please do not confuse this with Marvin Martian's Uranium-P238 Space Modulator, which was meant to blow our planet before Bugs Bunny thwarted his plans. My device is only a chocolate maker...

So let me explain this highly sophisticated modification. The PVC fittings up top are there to force air in and let air escape, thus they are pointed in opposite directions. There is a piece of bailing wire under one of the fittings, because it was not an exact fit and I needed to tighten it up by filling the gap. Enter bailing wire.

The steel bowl is insulated with some cardboard, fastened by duct tape. Steel ain't that great of a thermal insulator and I need to get the temperature over 150F. With a naked steel bowl, you lose a lot of heat.

This is an experimental modification and if it works I will make it more permanent, by buying camouflage duct tape so that it looks more like a duct hunter. The experiment is to see if we can drive off one remaining acid that our beans with a lower roast temperature still have. Roasting to a higher temperature drives out that acid, but it also causes bitterness, something that cannot be removed in the grinder/conch.

Paula has been gone a week. This was my second night to make dinner for the whole crew. It was "omelet bar" tonight. You pick what goes in your omelet, I cook it.